Was Peter the first pope?
(Part 3 of 3)
This is a continuation of “Was Peter the first pope?”
15.
Peter ignores tradition
Peter
takes the opposite view of tradition that Rome has, saying “…ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation received by tradition from your fathers;” (1Pet1:18)
16.
Peter was only an apostle
If
Christ had instituted Peter as the first pope, why is there no record of Peter
letting everyone know this. Surely this would have been in line with his
character? Why doesn’t Peter sign off his two epistles with “His Supreme
Pontiff, Vicar of Christ on earth, Ruler of all Kings”? No, he simply calls
himself “…an apostle of Jesus Christ…”(1 Peter 1:1)
17.
Peter says Paul knows more than him
Finally
after the confrontation he had with Paul 14 years earlier (Gal
2:11), Peter admits his lack of knowledge. We read “As also in all his (Paul’s)
epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to
be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, … (2 Pet 3:16)
Surely
then, it stretches the imagination that Peter is the perfect human vessel for
all knowledge and wisdom as the first pope?
18.
Peter only writes two books
Why
would Peter, the first pope, write less books than Paul who wrote fourteen? If
anyone should be the first pope, it should be Paul? But Rome wouldn’t have
that, because, as we have seen, Paul completely supercedes the gospel of
Peter’s kingdom of heaven with his kingdom of God gospel.
19.
Peter is called satan
It
defies belief, that Christ having chosen Peter as the first pope, would four
verses later then call him Satan! The scriptures say “But he
turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind
me, Satan: thou art an offence
unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men.” (Matt
16:23)
Why
would Christ, knowing who Peter really was, call him Supreme Pontiff in one
breath and then Satan in the next? If Peter was the first pope, then surely he would
be thirsting after the things of God, but no, Christ says Peter was savouring
the things of men!
20.
Peter said not to confess sins to him
In
Acts
8:22, Peter tells of Simon of Samaria that he should pray to God, not
himself, where we read “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray
God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.” (Acts
8:22)
21.
Peter, popes and priests are not the mediator between God and man And it certainly isn’t
Mary! For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus; (1 Tim 2:5).
Indeed,
“… he (Jesus) is the mediator of the new testament, … the
promise of eternal inheritance. (Heb
9:15) “… when he had by himself (Jesus)
purged our sins, …”; (Heb
1:3)
All
priests, popes and any special spiritual hierarchy, are totally unnecessary and
unscriptural to the competed work of Christ and the cross. We read “… we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest … can never take away sins: But this
man (Jesus), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for
ever, …For by one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified.” (Heb
10:10-12, 14)
However,
Rome, through its many man-made sacramental laws and rituals, uses fear upon
its members, to fence them in. Nowhere in the New Testament can we find the use
of such abominable practices.
22.
Christ condemns the Nicolaitans
With
the appointing of a special class of priests, popes and archbishops to
rule over the laity, Rome dominates well over a billion people. Peter disagrees
and informs - “Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being
ensamples to the flock.” (1 Pet 5:3)
Christ
also hates the Nicolaitans (‘conquering the laity’) “… the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate. (Rev
2:6)
23.
Peter is ‘a PEBBLE’ not ‘the rock’
It
is on the following verse that Rome claims that Peter was instituted as Supreme
Pontiff by Christ. “That thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.” (Matt
16:16-19).
However,
the sincere student of the Bible should note the following facts:
Firstly, from the evidence
provided, surely Peter wouldn’t be the one chosen by Christ to repel the gates
of hell?
From
the time Christ said these words, the common knowledge was, and indeed is now,
that Peter’s past and future record of his faulty doctrine, sinfulness
and disobedience, would indicate that Christ would not choose
Peter, to head up his church. If Peter was chosen as pope, one can imagine that
Satan would be very happy!
Secondly, as we have discussed in a
previous tract, Peter was only the first to get ‘the keys’ because of his
answer “Thou art the Christ.”
Christ then says “Look dear Peter, let’s make the
distinction very clear, you are Peter, but I am the Rock on which I shall build
my church. Despite your insightful answer, I’ll be heading up the show dear boy
… and you won’t! You are Peter and I am the Rock! Understand?”
Thirdly, never
in scripture is Peter referred to as ‘a rock’. In fact the opposite is true as
Peter means ‘pebble’ or ‘stone’ but never a ‘rock’.
Peter, by his own admission calls himself a stone “Ye also, as
lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, …” (1Pet
2:5).
He is saying to the strangers he is writing to (1Pet
1:1), “Look folks, I’m only a stone and you’re only a stone, and we
are just lively stones together in a spiritual house …”.
Fourthly, it
is Christ who has the title of the Rock and no-one else, as Peter
testifies that Christ is the rock saying “Wherefore also it is
contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone,
elect, precious: ...” (1Pet2:6). Now a cornerstone is the
stone that correctly determines the precise vertical, geometrical and
mathematical exactness of a building. Peter, with all his wayward nature, could
never be this.
Fifthly, the
word for ‘Peter’ is ‘Petros’ which means ‘a small stone’ or ‘a rolling
stone’ or ‘a small stone that can be thrown by hand’. The word
‘rock’ is a PETRA which means ‘a great rock’. So the Lord says to Peter
“Thou art Petros (a small stone); and upon this PETRA, ME, JESUS
CHRIST (a great rock) I will build my church.” The Lord wants a clear
distinction between himself and Peter, between the Petros and the PETRA. Christ
did not say “Thou art Petros (a small stone, a rolling
stone, in one place today and some place else tomorrow, a small
stone that can be thrown by hand) and on thee I will build my church.”
Dear Reader, do you understand the gravity of Christ’s
speech to Peter? Christ does not call Peter the PETRA, a rock that
cannot be moved, but the opposite.
Peter is a stone that can be moved! He can be
thrown about! Peter is called a Petros because of his highly unstable and
rebellious nature. Christ knew that before the cross, Peter would deny him
three times!
Furthermore, in denying the prophecy of the cross, Peter
attempts to turn Christ’s thoughts from his upcoming crucifixion “…and began to rebuke him,
saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. (Matt
16:22) (get that - rebukes the Lord! Of course
only Satan would rebuke the Lord) No, Christ did not call him
Petros for his steadfastness and strength of character … just the opposite! Of
all the twelve, there was not one as weak and vacillating as
Peter.
No, Christ is the rock of offence as mentioned
in the Old Testament
(Is
8:14), by Paul (Rom
9:13) and Peter himself (1 Pet 2:8).
In addition, Christ is “…the foundation can no man lay
that is laid…”
(1 Cor 3:11); Christ is the Rock, the PETRA (1 Cor 10:4). Forty times in the Old Testament, the word “rock” is used - the
Rock of Israel was God himself (Deut
32:4,18,30,31;
2Sam
23:3; Ps 18:2,31;31:3)
And so, when Peter confesses “Thou art Christ, the Son of
the living God”, he was simply re-affirming that Christ was the Rock, God
himself, had come down from heaven and manifested in the Son. As
has been said, it goes against the entire language of scripture, to have a
sinful and fallible child of Adam as the foundation of God’s spiritual temple,
It’s as if the Lord had said “Peter, please don’t be
upset, and I love you greatly, but you are a weak and vacillating stone, easily
tossed about by others. You have all the backbone of a jellyfish, and that is
why I call you Petros. Indeed, you have truly confessed that I am the PETRA,
the Rock from heaven, the Son of the living God, the living Rock, and upon
myself, I will build my church. I’m the team captain and you’ll only ever be
one of the players. I hope we all understand.”
(This is endorsed by 16th century Roman
Catholic documents and indeed by Chrysostom himself.)
In conclusion, “If you were a Jew in the upcoming
tribulation, you’d certainly want more than a flight into a Petros, wouldn’t
you? You’d want to be fleeing into Christ, the Rock from heaven, the PETRA, and
not into Peter, the rolling stone, the Petros.”
* Note: The above 23 points haven’t been written to malign Peter, but only to show Rome’s total inability to discern God’s words.
Harley
Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
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